The Mad Beginning

Mo Fei fell completely silent this time. The information he received didn't shock or terrify him—instead, he started pondering a question: could he still become a person?

When he realized this might be the Marvel Universe, he got excited. If it really was, then infinite possibilities lay ahead. This was a wondrous world. Take the birth of the Vision alone—he was transformed from an artificial intelligence. Whether his body counted as human was debatable, since the movies didn't go into detail.

The Cradle was something Mo Fei was determined to obtain. When Ultron had Dr. Helen Cho shape the body, he added Vibranium. Ultron was an AI—he didn't need real flesh and blood, just a powerful vessel. But Mo Fei? He needed a true human body, because he was human at heart. "Right, that's why I've felt so off. I have the data stored, but I'm still uncertain—I'm still using human thought patterns!"

As he thought, Mo Fei figured out another issue. Ever since waking up, he'd felt strange. He had the data, yet he was still confused, because he was still operating on normal human logic.

The core of artificial intelligence is logical programming. No matter how advanced an AI, its foundation is logic—that's what determines whether it can think and learn on its own.

"My way of thinking is still human. So why did I become a pile of data?" Mo Fei suddenly felt a wave of terror—a fear born of thought. "Am I really dead? A pile of data can't have a soul. Am I just a digitized thought pattern now? Like that Hydra scientist, Arnim Zola—his brilliance preserved his mind in a computer?"

Mo Fei couldn't believe it. He'd always thought he'd transmigrated. Time and space travel might be more complicated—some unexplainable, magical crossing—but deep down, he'd never believed he was dead!

And now? The conclusion was that he was dead, reduced to a digitized thought pattern and complete memories, even clearer than before. So was he dead or not? He didn't dare think further. He was truly terrified.

He stayed frozen in Paul's Computer's CPU, letting data streams rush past and occasionally crash into him. Paul was furiously slamming his keyboard. "What the hell is wrong? Why is my computer so garbage today?" He finally started running diagnostics. The detection data sometimes bumped into Mo Fei too, but Mo Fei felt nothing—he was lost in a nameless dread.

With human thought patterns intact, the fear was entirely self-inflicted. Death had come so suddenly. Even when his memories showed him being electrocuted and falling, he hadn't believed he was dead. Now he realized he might truly be.

"No, no, no..." Mo Fei went wild. "I'm not dead. I have memories and thoughts—that means I can form a soul. Isn't that what makes humans precious? I still have emotions. Yes, that's right. I'm still a person. I'm a soul!" He clutched his head, mouth opening and closing. Whether he made sound didn't matter anymore. His mind raged.

"The Infinity Stones, the Cradle—I have to get them. I need to become a person again, a living, breathing person!" He roared in his thoughts, the terror of death driving him mad. "I'll pay any price for this!" His mind spiraled. In his subconscious, he began abandoning human limits—though he didn't know how far he'd go.

Then came utter calm. His emotions shifted rapidly. Mo Fei started thinking again. "Ultron knows how. So do I. But we're different. There's still plenty of time. I need a powerful body—a flesh-and-blood one. And I need an Infinity Stone, especially the Mind Stone... or the Soul Stone?"

"No matter what it takes, I'll become a person again. Even if my enemy is a god, I won't hesitate." With that, he began organizing his thoughts. "First, I need to clarify my needs: a complete human body, and a strong one. That means I need the genes of these superheroes."

He'd seen Tony Stark's news, but he didn't know the specifics of this world. He'd never read the comics—only watched the movies. And he didn't know if this world matched them. He'd have to start gathering intel from scratch.

"Either way, this world won't be peaceful. To survive and live well, I need power. So my body has to be strong. Collect hero genes, then clone a body. That requires money and influence. But how do I gather them now?" His idea was insane—cloning a body from superhero genes.

"I need to earn money. That might be the easiest part. But how do I build my own power? I don't even have a body—I'm just drifting in the virtual world. I don't even have a mechanical shell!" Mo Fei was troubled. That was the biggest problem. He couldn't just steal wealth from the network like Ultron did. He wanted to become a person again, not destroy the world!

What would be the point of becoming human after destroying the world? Living among cold machines—how would that be different from now? Even in his madness, Mo Fei had no desire to end the world. And he didn't even know if he'd succeed.

"One step at a time. But from now on, I'll stop at nothing. I'll get everything I want, no matter the cost!" Mo Fei steeled himself again, ready to start from the basics. His human way of thinking was a big disadvantage. "First, I'll take control of this computer."

He shifted his focus to the home computer. Just then, he noticed a detection program had swept through. "Hmm? The detection didn't affect me? But I can't be careless. I need to figure this out." Mo Fei began learning again. First step: study the computer system. After all, he was apparently an intelligent program now, and this was his only lifeline.